Ministers recite oath of office differently

New Delhi: It was not all in the name of God at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Friday evening when India's new government was sworn in.

Most of the 19 ministers and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recited the familiar "I... swear in the name of God that I will bear true faith and solemnly affirm allegiance ...."

However, A.K. Antony and C.P. Joshi did not. While Congress veteran Antony simply said he "solemnly affirmed", Rajasthan leader Joshi swore by "satya nishtha" - the truth.

English was the language of the evening yesterday with 15 of the new ministers as well the Prime Minister taking their oath of office in it.

Only Kamal Nath, Sharad Pawar, C.P. Joshi and Meira Kumar took their oath in Hindi.

Only one man got a standing ovation when the new cabinet and prime minister for the next five years was sworn in.

As Singh finished taking oath for his second term as prime minister, the distinguished gathering broke into applause and stood up for the gentle sardar who helped the Congress return to power.

Dressed in his usual white kurta-pyjama and blue turban, Singh walked up to Congress president Sonia Gandhi sitting in the front row next to Vice President Hamid Ansari. He acknowledged their greetings and walked back as the house echoed with claps.

It was a touch of back home for most of the 19 ministers who made sure they wore something from their states - be it the traditional 'gamusa' that Assam's B.K. Handique threw over his dhoti-kurta, or West Bengal's Pranab Mukherjee who draped an 'uttareya' over his kurta and dhoti.

Ambika Soni, who is often seen in a sari, was wearing a crisp white salwar kurta from her native state Punjab and P. Chidambaram from Tamil Nadu was clad in his customary veshti.